Monday, April 27, 2009

As if an outbreak of "swine flu" wasn't enough, Mexico has suffered an earthquake. Next up, locusts, fire ants, HIV+, and the Rapture.

Sheesh, Mexico, what the hell did you do to deserve this?

MEXICO CITY – A strong earthquake struck central Mexico on Monday, swaying tall buildings in the capital and sending office workers into the streets. The quake rattled nerves in a city already tense from a swine flu outbreak suspected of killing as many as 149 people nationwide.

Shot presents Obama’s New Maginot Line | Conunderground.com posted at Conunderground.com, saying, "such wounds are most often found on cadavers. The cadavers of victims that evidently tried desperately to defend themselves against violent and deadly attacks, but could not muster enough strength or will to inflict sufficient damage upon the attacker in order to stop the attack. The results often wear a toe tag."

Aiken Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Melissa Summer said Wednesday that Perry is in serious condition. The 46-year-old Perry has been hospitalized to deal with complications from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a chronic inflammation disorder of the peripheral nerves.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

OMFG - Celine Dion wants to buy the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Leauge! This is not only crazy talk, it's downright ungodly and evil.

Why would she want to taint the historic team with her brand of phony and pomposity?

TORONTO (Reuters) – A group of Quebec's elite including singer Celine Dion, Seagram heir Stephen Bronfman and Quebecor Inc head Pierre Karl Peladeau is considering a bid for the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, the Globe and Mail said on Thursday.

The newspaper, citing financial sources, said team owner George Gillett is mulling a second round of bids for the storied team which he bought nine years ago for $185 million.

Monday, April 20, 2009

WACO, Texas – A man was stabbed after causing a stink — literally — in a motel room while eating with a friend, police said. Five men from the Houston area were sharing a Waco motel room Tuesday night, and two were inside the room eating when one had a flatulence problem, Waco police Officer Steve Anderson said. One man was so upset about the gas that he threw a large knife at him, cutting his leg, and then stabbed him in the chest, Anderson said.

Friday, April 17, 2009

I don't condone copyright infringement, but I think the modern-day version of copyright law has to keep up with modern-day technology. It's kind of ridiculous for the movie and music industries to charge grandma for stealing intellectual property when there are bigger fish to fry (like mass-produced bootleg videos from China, and don't get me started on fake pharmaceuticals!)...

One argument is this: If I find $10 on the ground while I'm walking my dog, did I steal it? Or did I find it?

Same with the Internet: If I find unprotected music, is it a crime to pick it up?

Now, if there's an organization that takes the IP and puts it up for others to find, then I have an issue with that.

But that's not exactly what the Pirate Bay does. They simply tell you where to find content. They don't provide the content themselves. They don't house any of the copyrighted material.

The collective "entertainment" (and software, too) industry makes it kind of difficult to get the material that I want.

For example, I like "Deadliest Catch." It's on Discovery and it's about the crab fishing industry in the Bering Sea out of Alaska. It's a great show. I'd like to just buy the damn series before it's on TV so that I can watch it at my leisure. I have a TiVo, I have multiple computers, and I have a DVD player. But the pricing and terms are out of line - $145 for seasons 1-4. That's a bit steep.

After all, how much revenue do they squeeze out of me through ads if I watch the free version on TV? That's right, a big fat ZERO!

(By the way, I don't watch commercials. They're for chumps.)

So, if they priced an entire season at $9, they would get 9 bucks out of me they weren't going to get in the first place. And I'd gladly pay that amount. It's worth it to me to get the series on my terms.

It's like when airlines want to charge you $500 for a cross-country flight that's about to take off and the plane is half-full. Wouldn't they be better off charging me cost-plus some percent? Sure they would. Right now, though, their "plus some percent" is 1,000 or more (do the math. you get it.)

And don't give me any crap about "you're licensing this material; you don't own it." Fuck you. If I pay for it, I bought it. And don't call it rent, either. I bought it, I own it, I should be able to watch it when I'm 100.

One more thing: Settle on a goddamned format, would you? There's iTunes, mp3, WMA, and that's just for music! Sheesh, no wonder nobody wants to pay for your content!

Your content sucks!

Can I just buy ONE VERSION and play it in my car, on my iPod, at my house, on my boat I don't own, and in my corporate jet that I don't own either? C'mon, guys. There's one rule of sales:

Find out what people want and give it to them

"Give" does not mean "free." Give at a fair price.

Greedy bastards. Anyway, I'm a little off-track here. I wanted to tell you about a funny quote from the spokesperson for Pirate Bay (their programmer), Peter Sunde:

“It’s so bizarre that we were convicted at all and it’s even more bizarre that we were [convicted] as a team. The court said we were organised. I can’t get Gottfrid out of bed in the morning. If you’re going to convict us, convict us of disorganised crime.

“We can’t pay and we wouldn’t pay. Even if I had the money I would rather burn everything I owned, and I wouldn’t even give them the ashes.”

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The NHL's second season (and almost as long) begins tonight, and it looks like a whale of a playoff. I love hockey, especially the post-season because everything is on the line. I'm a Sharks fan, and I really hope they do well this year.

They won the President's Trophy this year as the team with the most points. Can they parlay that into a Stanley Cup championship?

To me, it's doubtful. Maybe it's because they've always shown so much promise and failed to deliver. The past few years have been real heart breakers. But at least they're no longer saddled with Mr Lackluster (Ron Wilson); they have a new coach, Todd McLellan, from the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

But I'm still skeptical. This team has the best talent in the league: They're BIG, FAST, and TOUGH. At the beginning of the season, they had a LOT of Shots of Goal. But that all tapered off near the end.

I joke with my wife, who is a bigger Sharks fan than me, that they haven't played since December. She retorts, "Naw, they haven't played well since February."

A new study has come out on the relationship between propensity to smile and marriage success. As you can imagine, those who can smile under even the harshest circumstances (like marriage and raising kids) find the most wedded bliss.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The last administration threw out the window the idea that wars are fought between states; they thought they could wage wars on terrorists. Hence, "The War on Terror."

The current administration is apparently considering a War on Pirates, or more specifically, The War on Pirates off the Somali Coast (WOPOTSC). I didn't know this, but piracy has run rampant. There are more than a dozen ships with over 200 crew currently held hostage by these pirates.

The Obama administration is considering waging war against these bad guys. From FoxNews (so you know it's true) -

Defense officials said the U.S. military is considering attacks on Somali pirate bases on land and aid for the people there to help stop the hijacking of ships off Africa's coast, Bloomberg.com reported.

In fact, the war may have already started. I don't have the full story but it seems as if the American ship captain held hostage in a life boat off the coast of Africa was rescued by Navy SEALS. They shot and killed 3 pirates, in the same lifeboat, in the dark of night, and rescued the captain. The covert operation supposedly was approved by President Obama himself.

I was watching Fox News on the telly this weekend (I don't know why, I thought I had it blocked) and there was an "expert panel" all proclaiming that this hostage situation was President Obama's first "test" on the international front.

I'd say he passed, if results matter. They didn't matter during the Bush years, and he always got a pass from the Right Wingnuts.

So, Obama fans rejoice. He passed his first test, all within his first 100 days, with flying colors.

Now let's hope he either destroys the pirates or keeps us the hell out of there. From now on for me, it's all or nothing, baby.

Michael Bass presents Haley Barbour’s Revealing Veto Pen posted at Debt Prison, saying, "You need look no further to determine what’s wrong with the Republican Party than to examine two recent bills which made its way to the Mississippi Governor’s desk."

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Who Am I?

I subscribe to real conservatism: Small, non-intrusive government that believes in fiscal responsibility and deference to state's rights. I believe in the Constitution and everything that goes along with it, including the ability and necessity to change it when conditions warrant doing so.